STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Share-based Payment Arrangement [Abstract]

2017 Equity Incentive Plan

The Company’s 2017 Employee, Director and Consultant Equity Incentive Plan, as amended (the “2017 Plan”), provided for the Company to grant qualified incentive options, nonqualified options, stock grants and other stock-based awards to employees and non-employees to purchase the Company’s common stock. Upon the effectiveness of the 2020 Plan (as defined below), no further issuances were made under the 2017 Plan.

2020 Stock Option and Incentive Plan

The 2020 Stock Option and Incentive Plan (the “2020 Plan”) was approved by our board of directors on December 5, 2019, and the Company’s stockholders on January 14, 2020 and became effective on the date immediately prior to the date on which the registration statement for the Company’s IPO was declared effective. The 2020 Plan provides for the grant of incentive stock options, non-qualified stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock units, restricted stock awards, unrestricted stock awards, cash-based awards and dividend equivalent rights to the Company’s officers, employees, directors and consultants. The number of shares initially reserved for issuance under the 2020 Plan is 6,665,891, which shall be cumulatively increased on January 1, 2021 and each January 1 thereafter by 4% of the number of shares of the Company’s common stock outstanding on the immediately preceding December 31 or such lesser number of shares determined by the Company’s board of directors or compensation, nomination, and corporate governance committee of the board of directors.

2020 Employee Stock Purchase Plan

The 2020 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “2020 ESPP”) was approved by the Company’s board of directors on December 5, 2019, and our stockholders on January 14, 2020, and became effective on the date immediately prior to the date on which the registration statement for the Company’s IPO was declared effective. A total of 326,364 shares of common stock were initially reserved for issuance under this plan, which shall be cumulatively increased on January 1, 2021 and each January 1 thereafter by 1% of the number of shares of the Company’s common stock outstanding on the immediately preceding December 31 or such lesser number of shares determined by the Company’s board of directors or compensation, nomination and corporate governance committee of the board of directors.

Stock-based compensation expense

The Company recorded stock-based compensation expense in the following expense categories of its condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss:


	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2020		2019		2020		2019
Research and development	$	1,044	$	738	$	2,263	$	984
General and administrative	955		112		3,032		149
	$	1,999	$	850	$	5,295	$	1,133

Options

During the nine months ended September 30, 2020, the Company granted options to purchase 1,351,593 shares of common stock. The total fair value of options vested during the nine months ended September 30, 2020 was $2,043. As of September 30, 2020, there were 3,639,228 options outstanding, 39,763 options were forfeited and 51,076 options were exercised during the period. The weighted-average grant-date fair value per share of options granted during the nine months ended September 30, 2020 was $14.47.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, total unrecognized compensation cost related to the unvested stock-options was $26,283, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 3.0 years.

Restricted stock units

The fair values of restricted stock units are based on the market value of the Company’s stock on the date of the grant. Under terms of the restricted stock agreements covering the common stock, shares of restricted common stock are subject to a vesting schedule. During the nine months ended September 30, 2020, the Company granted 61,000 restricted stock units during the period. The total fair value of restricted stock units vested during the nine months ended September 30, 2020 was $50. As of September 30, 2020, there were 59,334 restricted stock units outstanding and 1,666 units were vested during the period. The weighted-average grant-date fair value per share of restricted stock units granted during the nine months ended September 30, 2020 was $29.65.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, total unrecognized compensation cost related to the unvested restricted stock units was $1,631, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 2.2 years.